Calling the incident, "highly unusual," Wiggins explained to the paper that a local vendor was tasked with the job of purchasing new state flags to replace the one that was torn. Wiggins claims they were given two boxes labeled "Mississippi State Flag," but the boxes actually contained Confederate battle flags. After a maintenance worker raised the flag, the mistake went unnoticed for a couple of hours.

"Without the wind blowing, you know, it's about a 10-by-15-foot flag," Wiggins explained to MSNBC's Maddow Blog. "You don't hook it on and lay it out flat first. The bars and stars do show in the upper left corner."